minidsp nanoavr hd or DL

1951 Views 1 Reply 2 Participants Last post by HifiZine, Dec 12, 2015

kcsun

Discussion Starter · Dec 11, 2015

I have been on the REW forum and posted graphs of my current set up, it seems I need to make some adjustments however my amp does not have any eq settings that can be adjusted manually to adjust for my awful room acoustics.

My AVR is an Arcam AVR600 using HDMI inputs

I have an Oppo 103d for playing Blu Rays via HDMI

I use a UK Sky HD satellite receiver for TV reception via HDMI

I would like your advice on purchasing either a Minidsp nanoavr HD or DL

I already have a UMIK -1 and use the REW software on my Mac, the mac has Parallels and windows 7 so should run the Dirac software that way as it is a windows only programme

I have read the brochures and they say that the inputs must be PCM, can the UK Skybox output PCM via the HDMI the two options I have are either "normal" or "dolby digital"

The amplifier then has to be set to turn off all forms of matrix decoding (e.g. Dolby Pro Logic, DTS Neo:6) and any surround simulation or enhancement modes

After I have set the unit up and I play a Blu Ray on my player will the amplifier still recognise that it is in DTS master HD or Dolby 5.1 etc

The DL version is twice as much money as the HD but is it worth it?
I think the Dirac version does the alterations automatically but the HD version is all manual set up using REW??

Any views gratefully received

it is not to late to get it added to my Xmas pressies list!

Ken

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HifiZine

· #2 · Dec 12, 2015

Hi Ken

kcsun said:
I already have a UMIK -1 and use the REW software on my Mac, the mac has Parallels and windows 7 so should run the Dirac software that way as it is a windows only programme

The miniDSP Dirac software runs on a Mac now (they issued an update a few (?) months ago).

I have read the brochures and they say that the inputs must be PCM, can the UK Skybox output PCM via the HDMI the two options I have are either "normal" or "dolby digital"

The second definitely won't work. For "normal" you would have to find out what exactly that means. If you can find a link to the manual I'll take a look if you like. Some devices will only do stereo (not multichannel) output as PCM.

After I have set the unit up and I play a Blu Ray on my player will the amplifier still recognise that it is in DTS master HD or Dolby 5.1 etc

No, it won't, because it will be receiving linear PCM which is not an encoded format, it is just uncompressed audio. Basically, the idea is that the player/source does the decoding, then feeds it through to the nanoAVR (either version) in linear PCM. When then is sent on to the AVR in linear PCM. So the AVR doesn't know what the original format on the disc was.

The DL version is twice as much money as the HD but is it worth it?
I think the Dirac version does the alterations automatically but the HD version is all manual set up using REW??

The HD is all manual setup. You can use the REW Auto EQ to help if you wish. Dirac is much more automatic but still allows control over the target curve. Having gone through the whole nanoAVR HD setup procedure, I do have to say that it was quite time consuming and the Dirac approach (once you figure out where the mic goes etc) is much less work.

Hope Santa brings you what you want

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